Clutch mechanism



Feb. 6, 1934. D. cRAMP CLUTCH MECHANISM Filed July 12, 1929 Patented Feb. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLUTCH MECHANISM David L. Cramp, Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada, assignor to Ingersoll-Rand Company, Jersey City, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application July 12, 1929. Serial No. 377,716

2 Claims. (Cl. 192-41) This invention relates to clutch mechanism of T therebetween to slldably receive a block U. the type used for forming a connection between The block U may be of generally rectangular shape a driving member and a driven member. having at its outermost end a series of V-shape The primary object of the invention is to form teeth W of substantially the same shape as the 5 a positive connection between the driving member teeth K which they are adapted to engage.

and the member intended to be driven, and In the innermost end of the block U is a longianother object is to enable this connection to be tudinal slot X into which extends an arm Y of made with a minimum degree of exertion on the a turn-buckle Z. The arm Y is pivoted at its part of the operator. free end on a pin b seated in the block U. The 10 Other objects will be in part obvious and in opposite arm a of the turn-buckle Z is pivoted part pointed out hereinafter. to a bell crank d by means of a pin e. The arms In the drawing illustrating a practical appli- Y and 0 may be provided with threads running cation of the invention and in which similar in opposite directions in the usual manner to reference characters refer to similar parts, enable said arms to be drawn together or ex- 15 Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of tended by means of the nut 1 whereby the arms a hoist having the invention applied thereto, are connected.

Figure 2 is atransverse view through Figure 1 In the construction shown, the pivot pin e extaken on the line 22 looking in the direction tends throug the angle of e bell crank dindi ated by the arrows, One end of the bell crank d is pivotally secured 20 Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the t0 the disk 0 by means of a pivot pin a and the clutch member disengaged, and other arm of the bell crank is pivotally connected Figure 4 is a sectional elevation of a modificato a link h which is pivoted at its other end to tlon of the invention. a sleeve 1' loosely mounted on the drive shaft A.

Referring to the drawing, the invention is shown The entire arrangement is such that the sleeve 7' applied to a hoisting mechanism comprising a, will at all times follow the movement of the drive shaft A on which is loosely mounted a drum d sks 0.

B carrying a cable C. The driving shaft A in a s are provided for ually actuatin this instance is shown journalled in bearingsD on the sleeve 7' to move the block or blocks U into opposite sides of the drum and between one bearand out of engagement with the ring J. To this 30 ing D and the drum is a gear E which may be end a clutch collar comprising a pair of symsuit-ably keyed to the drive shaft A and through metrical half sections is is disposed loosely in a which the rotary movement of a prime mover g oove 0 in the Slee 7' 0 tha the S ee Ii y (not shown) may be transmitted to the drive rotate freely while the clutch collar for which shaft A. the sleeve forms a bearing may remain stationary.

35 In accordance with the present invention, The half sections is may be suitably clamped tomeans are provided for positively connecting the gethe y means of bolts P and a ha f Section drum B with the drive shaft A. To this end the k carries a trunnion q which, when the sections drum B is provided with an annular flange F k are in their assembled relationship, lie diahaving an internal radial flange G to which is metrically pp ach Other- 40 secured, as by means of bolts H, a ring J having Pivoted on the trunnions q is a yoke 1 having a on its inner periphery a series of introverted ub 8 in which is formed an aperture i p radially arranged V-shape teeth K. ably of polygonal cross sectional form to receive On one side of the drum B and in approximately d interleekingly age a correspondingly the same transverse plane as the ring J is a drivp d Shaft u leulhalled in gs v ted 45 ing member L comprising in this instance a pair in this instance to a bearing One end of the of half disks 0 having central hub portions P to h f u pr y nd a bearing 1) and carries snugly fit th driv h ft A, on th contiguous a lever w whereby the shaft u may be oscillated portions of th half di k 0 ar l t r l flanges Q to actuate the sleeve a longitudinally of the drive which lie face to face and through which extend shaf A. o bolts R for securing the half disks 0 firmly to- The operation of the device so far described gether d t th dri shaft is as follows: Let it be assumed that the drive The disks 0 are shown provided with radially Shaft A is being rotated and that the clutch extending ribs s which may extend in opposite mechanism is in its di sa edp s tion so that directions on the disks in pairs and are so spaced the drum B remains Stationery W r p to 55 with respect to each other as to form a guideway' the shaft A. If then it be desired to connect the drum B to be rotated with the shaft, the sleeve 7 may be moved in the direction of the bearing D adjacent thereto as illustrated in Figure 1. This moj/ement of the sleeve j will cause the link It to ;raise the bell crank 11 and thus, through the medium of the turn-buckle Z, move the block U outwardly so that its teeth W will engage the teeth K of the ring J. The ring J and consequently the drum B will then be in positive engagement with the drive shaft A throughthe block U and the half disks 0. When it is again desired to maintain the drum stationary,- the sleeve 7' may be moved in the direction of the drum by means of the lever w and this will cause the connections between the sleeve 1' and the block U to retract the block and move its teeth W out of engagement with the teeth K on the ring J.

From the foregoing it will be observed that by means of the mechanism described a positive engagement may be effected between a driving member and a driven member and that these members may be brought into engagement with only a slight movement of the means Whereby they are actuated. Moreover, this arrangement entirely eliminates the transmission of end thrust from one member to the other while bringing the members into engagement or when they are engaged. One advantageous feature of the clutch is that whenever teeth of the various parts comprising the clutch are not in exact alignment for immediate tight engagement, the blocks U may nevertheless be thrust radially outward and only a very small degree of movement of the drive shaft A will be required until the teeth of the block U will move tightly into the serrations between the teeth K of the ring J. If, in the event that wear takes place on the teeth, and in which case a loose connection between the teeth would otherwise result, the turn-buckle Z may be slightly adjusted to compensate for such wear.

The modified form of construction illustrated in Figure 4 is in many respects similar to that previously described. In this instance, however, the link It is connected to the arm 0 of the turnbuckle and a second link a: is likewise pivoted at one end of the arm 0 of the turn-buckle Z and with its other end to the half disk 0. Due to this arrangement a toggle action is obtained so that when the sleeve 7' is moved longitudinally of the shaft A and in the direction of the drum B, the adjacent ends of the turn-buckle Z and the link x will be moved in the direction of the plane in which the outer ends of the link a: and the turn-buckle Z are pivoted. This movement of these members will cause the block U to be moved outwardly into engagement with the ring J I claim:

1. A clutch, comprising a drive shaft, a drum rotatably mounted thereon, a ring gear having introverted teeth, means for securing the ring gear to the drum, a driving member affixed to the drive shaft and rotatable therewith, guide means on the driving member, blocks in the guide means having teeth adapted to engage the teeth of the ring gear, means surrounding the drive shaft and slidable therealong connected to the toothed blocks, and means to actuate the last mentioned means along the shaft to cause the toothed blocks to engage the ring gear thereby causing motion of the drive shaft to be transmitted to the drum.

2. A clutch, comprising a drive shaft, a drum rotatably mounted thereon, a ring gear having introverted teeth, bolts for securing the ring gear tothe drum, a driving member aflixed to the drive shaft and rotatable therewith, guide means on the driving member, blocks in the guide means having teeth adapted to engage the teeth of the ring gear, a collar surrounding the drive shaft and slidable therealong connected to the toothed blocks, and means to actuate the collar along the shaft to cause the toothed blocks to engage the ring gear thereby causing motion of the drive shaft to be transmitted to the drum.

DAVID L. CRAMP. 

